Blogs

As mentioned in numerous news stories, articles, Tweets, placards, and even an earlier blog post, the booze-selling landscape changes that were voted in WA have actually taken place, taking the selling of spirits and such out of the hands of the state.

Went to the Mother Earth News Fair at the Puyallup Fairgrounds yesterday to hear the "high priest of the pasture" Joel Salatin and, please don't string me up, I was underwhelmed. Oh, he's an entertaining speaker and the enthusiastic shouts of "Amen!" proved he was preaching to the choir. Maybe I was expecting too much, but he didn't bring anything new to the table in terms of serving up concrete advise about how individuals could make the planet a better place. ("We should plant fruit trees in the medians on interstates!" just didn't speak to me.)

Via Nancy Guppy from Seattle Channel's Art Zone:
Two of the people that died in the tragic shootings on May 30th were musicians Drew Keriakedes and Joe Albanese who performed with Circus Contraption. As we collectively grieve this devastating loss, Art Zone host Nancy Guppy shares a wonderful musical moment with Circus Contraption performing in the AZ studio in 2009.

A funny thing happened while I was going to my place of grudging acceptance this morning: I found this WSDOT photo of a baby peregrine falcon that lives with two siblings under the Ship Canal Bridge. A WSDOT biologist (yes! They have those!) and a professional falcon bander tagged the 3-week-old babes this week so they can keep track of them.
WSDOT's Flickr stream is always great entertainment.

The head honcho of restaurants in this town is, without a doubt, Tom Douglas. Take it from us, this guy is good. Hence his regular appearances in our pages, most notably on our Most Influential People of 2011 list, not to mention his claiming the number one spot on our inaugural Food Establishmentt list. Oh yeah, and most recently that little James Beard Award thing.

There are some showstoppers at the new Collections Cafe, where Crush chef Jason Wilson collaborated on the menu with Space Needle executive chef Jeff Maxfield and resident chef Ivan Szilak. A tart salad tossed with watermelon rind pickles, the pressed pork sandwich wearing a crown of crunchy slaw and prawns bathed in salsa verde top the list.

MUST CHEERSounders Women Home OpenerThursday (5/31) - There’s another Sounders team in town that deserves your “scarves-up!” attention: the Sounders Women. After generating off-season buzz by signing national team player (and former Husky star) Hope Solo, the women kick off the home opener against the Colorado Rush tonight. Say it with us: Gooooal! p.s. If you miss home opener, check out one of the many home games in June.

Ready your jumbo-size shopping carts, Washington State's new liquor privatization law goes into effect on Friday, June 1; and local stores aren't wasting any time preparing their displays.
Looking for a unique recipe to celebrate (or commiserate over) this watershed cultural shift? Regular Seattle mag contributor and spirits expert A.J. Rathbun has excellent recipes for after-dinner and before-dinner cocktails, all on the Seattle mag blog.

The Seattle Police assistant chief comments on the recent rash of shootings in Seattle. King 5 asks what's being done to curb the violence and how community members can help. For ongoing coverage, visit King5.com.

Nope, you're not having déjà vu: Thierry Rautureau was indeed on Season 2 of Bravo's Top Chef Masters. And now comes a promo proving The Chef in the Hat is returning to compete on Season 4, which premieres July 25th.

The press preview for the new King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center began with the customary parade of thanks to partners and sponsors, along with civic boosterism regarding this “marquee event” and the tourist dollars its going to rake in for the city (90,000 tickets have already been sold—claustrophobes, take heed). It all started to blur together, as giant photos of selected Egyptian artifacts looped in a soothing slideshow, over and over, on the immense IMAX screen in the PACCAR theater.

Dear Mr. Hansen,
As the city eagerly awaits the results of your privately-funded transportation study that may (or may not) determine if a third professional sports venue in the SoDo neighborhood will cause insurmountable traffic issues, where two stadiums and a working port already frequently force things to a standstill, let us at Seattle magazine (headquartered very close to Safeco Field) submit the above for consideration.